Ventilating system



March 19, 1929. G, HlLGrl-R 1,705,765

VENTILTING SYSTEM Filed uarch, 1927 z sheets-sheet 1 .y 'Patented Ilzfif192i9. j j y [UNITED STATES PATENT oFFICE.

j 'GEORGE memset' lcnrcaeo, Irun-ors VENTILAT'ING SYSTEM.

' App'ucamn mea March 4, 1927. serial No; 172,859.

ous organic derivatives which, being lighter' than air, tend to collect in the upper portion of the compartment. This is especially tr-ue -in the case of meat and butter which have started to deteriorate before being placed in storage. Oftentimes these gaseslaccumulate in such quantities that they may condense and fall upon the products in storage. Such conditions are objectionable not only because of the offensive odors about the storage chamber but also because the presence of these gases and the condensate thereof tend to start 'or accelerate decomposition of the products in storage. l

The primary object of the present invention is to overcome these diiiiculties by providingv a new and improved means for ventilating refrigerators and other cold-storage compartments, which does not reduce materially the elficienc'yof the cooling system employed and which operates at all times to keep the compartment and the adjacent rooms sweet and clean.

More specifically stated, the invention aims to provide a novel circulatory system i for the natural ventilation of coolers, re

frigerators and the like by which foul gases accumulating therein are` removed slowly and continuously from the building where the compartment is located and replaced by 4o fresh air.

Another object is to provide an automatic control for a circulatory system of ventilation so that the system will operate eiiciently regardless of changes in temperature conditions outside of the'system.

Still a further ,object is to ada t the present system of circulation contro to a plurality of compartments to be ventilated.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with thev accompanying drawings, in which y Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a refrigerator compartment equipped with my improved Ventilating system, the latter being shown somewhatl diagrammatically.

Fig. 2 is a plan section of the refrigerator room with the top Awall thereof removed.

Fig. .3 is a detailed view showing a portion of the control means for the Ventilating e system.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of three refrigeration compartments arranged to be ventilated by the present system.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the compartments shown in Fig. 4..

WhileI have shown in the drawings and will herein describe the preferred embodi-v ment ofv the invention, it isv to be understood that I do not intend to be limited thereby to the particular form disclosed `but aim to cover all modifications and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope 4of the appended claims. y

The invention is illustrated ingFigs. 1 and 2 of the drawings as applied toa refrigerator compartment 10 having a top wall 11,

` a bottom wall 12, end walls 13 and 14, and

side Walls 15 and 16. vThe end wall 14 is spaced a short distance from the wall 16' of thev building in which the compartment is located.

As is common practice in ithe art, the compartment is arranged to be refrigerated artificially by a coil 17 supported alongthe side wall 16 and by end coils 18. Thesecoils may be connected in' series and adapted to be supplied with a yrefrigerant by any preferred formAof refrigeration unit.

'[n'the present instance,l the air from the upper portion of the cooling compartment Where the foul gases usually collect, is intended to be removed and delivered to the atmosphere outside of the building and fresh air from the outside is admitted into the compartment to replace the gases thus removed. To this end, an exhaust header 19 i's located in the upper portion of the lcompartment near the side? wall 16 in communl-` cation with three pipes 2O preferably located atopposite ends and in the center of the compartment just below the top wall 11. Each pipe has a series of perforations through which air from the upper part of the compartment may-pass into the header. -Two outlet ducts are provided for the header 19 one comprising a pipe 21r communicating with one end of the'header and extending through the end wall 14 of the compartment near the upper portion thereof and terminating outside of the wall 16 ofthe building. The other outlet duct comprises'a pipe 22 connecting the medial portioh of the.

header 19 with one end of a jacket 23, the

' in the building and outside of the cooling compartment. In the preferred embodiment, the movable members of these valves are connected by a rigid rod 28, the arrangement being such that one Valve will be open while the other is closed. The air removed from the compartment through the exhaust header. and the outlet ducts is intended to be replaced by fresh air admitted tothe compartment through either of two inlet ducts located respectively near the upper and lower portion ofthe end wall 14. These ducts comprise pipes 29 and 30 and are arranged to be opened and closed respectively by gate valves 31 and 32 having their movable valve 'members connected to the rod 28 in such a way that the upper valve 31 will be open only when the lower gate valve 27 is open and will be closed when the upper gate valve 26 and the lower valve 32 are open.

Means is provided for controlling the setting of the valves 2G, 27, 31 and 32 in accordance with the temperature difference between the cooling compartment 10 and the air outside of the building. Preferably this means comprises a lever v33 arranged to bel moved to one position or the other bya double diaphragm actuator unit 34. This unit (see Fig. 3) comprises a casting 35 having heads 3G secured to its opposite ends.

` Flexible diaphragms 37 are clamped between the casting and the heads and define chambers 38 which communicate through ducts 39 and 40 with thermal responsive elements 41 and 42.l Each element together with the corresponding chamber 38 is filled with a thermal responsive gas such as ammonia -from the refrigeration system. The two diaphragms are connected by a rigid rod 43 which is arranged lto operate the lever 33. The latter is pivoted intermediateitsends on the casting 35 and one end carries an adjusting weight 44 while the other is pivotally connected with the rod 28.

The pressure element 42 is placed within the cooling compartment while the element 41 is placed in the open air outside of the building. It will be apparent that the diaphragm unit may be adjusted by means. of the weight 44 to respond to a predetermined variation between the temperatures of the compartment 1 and the outside air. Preferably the unit 34 is set so that when the outside temperature becomes greater than the temperature inside of the compartment, the rod 28 will be raised into the position show-n in Fig. 1 thereby opening valves 27 and-31 andv closing valves 26 and 32, and when the temperature outside becomes lower than that -of the compartment, the diaphragms will beflexed upwardly and the rod 28 will be moved downwardly opening valves l26 and 32 and closing valves 27 and pat s .for .circulation of air through the coolingcompartment 10 are provided, each corresponding to one position of the actuator rod 28. When'the rod is in raised position, as shown in Fig. 1, air may enter the compartment 10 through the inlet duct 31 and may leave through the exhaust header 194 andthe outlet pipe 24. When the rod is lowered,.the air may enter through the inlet duct A30 and leave through the exhaust header and the outlet pipe 21. In each instance,.the an' is removed from the upper.

portion of the cooling compartment.

The' operation of the 'present system may bey considered as being based on the tendency.

It will bei seen that with the above ar-- ran ement of inlet and outlet valves, two

Under these conditions (Fig. 1) vvalves y27 v and 31 would be open and valves 26`and 32 would be closed, and circulation would take place asv follows: The air in the pipe 22 and within the jacket 23 being in close proximity to the cooling coil 17 would be cooled below the average temperature of the. a1r within. thecompartment 10. The denslty of the air would thus be increased with the result thatl rthe -airV would pass out through the valve 27 and pipe 24 into the lighter air ontside of the building. 'This would induce circulation of the foul gases from the upper portion lof the compartment into the exhaust header through the perforations in the pipes 20. Such vremoval of air creates .a slight vacuum within the compartment with thev reversed, that is, when the outsideair becomes cooler than the compartment as would frequently be the case during .winter months, the diaphragm unit would respond automatically to shift the rod 28 downwardly, thereby closing the valves 27 and 31 and opening the valves ,26 and 32. Under these conditions, the air wit-hin the compartment, being warmer and thereforelighter than the outside air, would ltend to flow out of the compartment through the upper pipe 21. Also the colder and heavier 'outside air would tend to circulate into the compartment through the lower pipe 30. This combined inflow and outflow provides for removal of the foul gases from the -upper portion of the storage compartment.

In Figs. 4 and 5, the invention is illustrated as applied to a series of three vertically disposed refrigeration compartments 46, 47 and 48, the arrangement being such that only one diaphragm control unit is required and such that any one of the compartments can be taken out of service without interrupting the circulationv of air through the other compartments. For this purpose, a common exhaust header 49 is provided having perforated intake pipes 50, 51 and 52 each located near the top of one of said compartments and each being adapted to be controlled by afbutterlly valve 53. The outlet for the header 49 is through a pipe 54 communicating with the upper end of the header and having two outlet pipes 5,5 and 56 controlled by lvalves 57 and 58 and terminating outside of the compartments. Within the upper compartment, the

pipe 54 is enclosed by a jacket 59 throughwhich a cooling medium from the common refrigeration system for the compartments may be passed.

he movable members of the `valves 57 and 58 are connected by a vrod 60 which is adapted to be-actuated by a lever 61 of a diaphragm unit 62-and which'is also arranged to actuate a rod 68 carrying six valve members64 and 65 for controlling six inlet ducts or ports 66 and 67. Two of these ports are provided in each compartment, and located respectively near the upper 'and lower portions of the compartment. The unit 62 has temperature responsive pressure elements 68 and 69, one being located within one of the compartments, they other being placed outside of the compartments.

,When the temperature outside of the comi partments is greater than that inside, thev valves58 and 64 will be open and the others A will/be closed as shown in Fig. 4. Then, as the" air in the pipe 54 becomes cool, it moves downwardly .thereby inducing clrculation into the exhaust header 49 from the pipes of the several compartments and out of the pipe 56 through the valve 58. The compartments'are replenished with fresh air through the ports 66. Now, when the temperature conditions are 'eversed, the unit 62 will op-` erate to open valves 57 and 65 and to close valves 58 and 64. Under these conditions, the outside air being colder and denser lthan the air in the compartments will tend to move into each of the compartments through the open ports 67. This inflow of air together with the tendency of the lighter air within the compartments to rise and How through the header 49 out of the open pipe 55 will eifectually remove the foul air from the top of each of the compartments. By means v.of the valves 53 it will be observed that any of the compartments can be taken outof service without interfering with the natural circulation ,of air through the other compartments. In other words, by closing one of the valves 53, the intake pipe leading to the header 49 willbe closed without interfering with lthe setting of the valves which regulate the direction of the circulation ofV air in the system as a whole.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a compartment to be ventilated, of an exhaust header having inlets located within said compartment and two outlet ducts from said header both leading out of said compartment, one of said outlets being positioned substantially above the other, two inlets to said compartment, one located substantially above the other, and valve means controlling said outlets and inlets and operable to open said upper outlet and said lower ,inlet while closing said upper inlet and said lower outlet.

2. The combination with a compartment to be ventilated, of means adapted to provide two different paths for the circulation of air into and out of said compartment, valve means for estabhshmg either one or vvthe other of said paths of circulation, and

means responsive to the differential between the temperature inside and outside of the compartment `for controlling said valve means selectively.

3. Thecombination with a compartment to be ventilated, of means providing `two different paths for the circulation of the air outside of the building in whichl said compartment is located into and out of said compartment, valve means operable to establish either one or the other of said paths of circulation selectively," operating means for said valve means including a pair of thermal responsive pressure elements, one located in said compartment and the other located outside of said building, and means actuated by said elements Vto operate said valve means.

gwhe'n the outside temperature becomes greater or less than the temperature within said compartment.

4. The combination with a compartment to be ventilated, of an exhaust conduit having inlets within said compartment, means sol adapted to provide two different paths for the circulation of air into said compartment and out of said compartment througlnsaid l conduit, and valve means for establishing either of said paths of circulation, and a single operating means for said valve means. The combination with a compartment to be ventilated, of' an-exhaust header Allaving inlets located in the upper portion of said compartment, means adapted to provide twoV diiferent pathsfor the circulation otl air into said compartment and out of said compartment through said header, .valve means operable to establisheither of said paths ot' circulation, and means operable when the temperature outside of said' compartment exceeds the temperature therein to actuate said valve means to establish one of said paths of circulation while closing the other path and when the temperature outside of said compartment is less than the temperature within the compartment to actuate saidl valve means to close saidl first men-v tioned path and establish said other pathl of circulation.

6. The combination with a plurality of compartments to be ventilated, of an exhaust header having inlet openings withineach'of said compartments, valves each 'controlling one of said inlets, two outlet ducts leading from said header and terminating'out'side of said compartments at different levels, means adapted to cool the air i'n one et said ducts to a temperature below that of said compartments, two inlet ducts for each of said compartments located respectively near the upper and lower portions of the corresponding compartment, a valve for each of said outlet ducts, and a valve for each ofvsaid inlet ducts.

7. The combination with a plurality of compartments to be ventilated, `of an exhaust header having inlet openings within each of saidcompai'tments, valves each controlling one of said inlets, two outlet ducts leadinglfrom said header and terminating outside of said compartment at different levels, vmeans adapted to coolv the air inone of said ducts to a temperature below that of said compartments, two inlet ducts for each of said compartments located respectivelyv4 near the upper and lowerportions of` the corresponding compartment,'a valve for each t of sald outlet ducts, a valve for each of sald lnlet ducts, and means for operating said -inlet and said outlet valves in accord@ ance' with the differential between the tem-v partments.

AIn testimony` whereof, have hereunto f-allixed my signature.

GEORGE HI'LGER, 

